The talking dog has transported me to 1957. I really wish he’d transport me to 1543 so I could marry Henry VIII and get his fortune but they didn’t have jazz and rock n roll records then. I guess I’ll have to settle for Jerry Lee Lewis… oh, drat! His thirteen year old cousin nabbed him, the house wrecker!

The big thing that’s the rage this year are these spaceships the Russians keep launching. I think they want Lassie to become the first dog in space. I wonder if they have dog biscuits on the Moon. Hey, is that a Cat in a Hat? Great Britain tests a hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island this year. Well, that sure wasn’t in the holiday spirit. I bet Santa Claus puts coal in your stocking, Mr. Prime Minister!

The talking dog tells me I have to do a top twenty-five list this year or I have to watch reruns of Queen For a Day. I think I’ll do the twenty-five list.

So here we go…

Event of the year: Death wins in a chess match

Fad:  Samurai Fighting

Babe of the Year: Alfred Hitchcock

Scandal of the Year: Eddie Haskell steals Beaver’s lunch money.

Movie or TV show to barf to: Peyton Place

What we could have done without: Pat Boone

Pet of the year: Nikita Khrushchev

Other Tidbits: Humphrey Bogart dies but Gary Cooper lives, forensic experts determine Eddie Haskell is not Alice Cooper, Audrey Hepburn hasn’t lost her looks yet, Harry Belafonte buys a Banana Boat, Elvis Presley goes to jail and is all shook up, Henry Fonda gets a murderer off and the Lonesome Rhodes show is the top rated show in history, Sputnik is launched and bomb shelters are built in Dick Nixon’s backyard, The Yankees lose the World Series and George Steinbrenner fires Billy Martin.

Okay, so much for the trivia. Here are my top twenty-five for 1957.

1)  Sonny Rollins- Way Out West

2)  Charles Mingus- The Clown

3)  Carl Perkins- The Dance Album

4)  Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps- Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps

5)  Johnny Griffin- A Blowin Session

6)  Billie Holiday- Body and Soul

7)  John Coltrane- Coltrane

8)  Coleman Hawkins- The Hawk Flies High

9)  Nat King Cole- After Midnight

10)  Thelonious Monk- Monk’s Music

11)  Horace Silver Quintet- Six Pieces of Silver

12)  Pete Seeger- American Ballads

13)  Miles Davis- Miles Ahead

14)  Little Richard- Here’s Little Richard

15)  Leonard Bernstein- Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story

16)  Patsy Cline- Patsy Cline

17)  Chuck Berry- After School Session

18)  Miles Davis- Birth of the Cool

19)  Johnny Cash- Johnny Cash and his Hot and Blue Guitar

20)  Elvis Presley- Loving You

21)  The Everly Brothers- They’re Off and Rolling

22)  The Coasters- The Coasters

23)  Buddy Holly and the Crickets- The Chirpin Crickets

24)  Ruth Brown- Rock n Roll

25)  Miles Davis- Round About Midnight

This is the year where jazz really takes control. For the second straight year, my biggest surprise also happens to be my favorite album of the year. In this case it’s Sonny Rollins. The title track alone is enough to sway me but the album grooves throughout. Mingus’ the Clown is the first of his truly great albums imo. It was close as to which album would be number one. Billie Holiday’s Body and Soul is another album that impresses me. Her early death from a drug overdose seems such a waste.

Rock n Roll is still trying to find it’s bearings as far as albums go. I rated Carl Perkins at number three, but that could have just as easily been his greatest hits. Gene Vincent comes off with a great album though. The two most popular rock albums of that year though, Here’s Little Richard (another greatest hits album) and the Chirpin’ Crickets, while on the list, don’t impress me as much as they do with  the RYM bunch. At least there are enough quality albums to make a top twenty-five though.

Biggest Surprise- Sonny Rollins- Way Out West

 Crazy Jazz Album. I still can’t get the title track out of my head

Biggest Disappointment- Miles Davis

Round About Midnight. I’m hoping his future stuff will be better but he doesn’t wow me the way Coltrane does for example.

Stinker of the Year- Various Artists- My Pussy Belongs to Daddy.

 The title alone rates a mention. Yeah, it’s pretty much a porn album by various artists with titles such as Sadie’s Still Got the Rag On and He Forgot His Rubbers, you know this has to be a hoot. The album finishes with the classic Tony’s Got Hot Nuts.

Well that made me hot (or maybe I kept the roast on in the oven too long). Anyway. we’ll have 1958 later so see you then.